I hope somebody can help here, its an ongoing issue with no obvious solution.
The background
I created my own personal apple developer account back in 2010 to tinker about with iOS development. The company I worked for at that time asked me to write an app as a test to see if we could a) write an app and b) sell it. It so happens both cases were true and the app has flourished into a successful venture.
The issue:
I am leaving this company and we are trying to figure out how I can give them this app, they did after all still pay a salary while I was making the app so I consider it their app really only its tied to me and my personal developer license. I currently forward any funds it makes to them each month.
We contacted Apple and they suggested the company i work for set up a company developer account and then ask for an app transfer. This sounded great and we started the process but then it occurred to me that re-signing the app under a different developer license would effectively kill the existing app on the store. All our ratings would be wiped (and there are quite a few) which is unacceptable. The ratings of an App are extremely important to its success on the store. Apple confirmed that the ratings and reviews do not get transferred across. We stopped.
So, here I am at this block again.
The company I work for even suggested buying my personal account off me so they can run it themselves but I am worried about this, it seems fraudulent as I am the one responsible for contracts on that account and any issue would come back to me. THey wouldn't be able to change the owner "name" on the account either from what I have read.
Any suggestions how we can resolve this?
Thanks
Geoff
it occurred to me that re-signing the app under a different developer license would effectively kill the existing app on the store.
This is false. As long as you transfer the app like Apple suggests (you need to contact them for this), the company just needs to submit a new version from their account and it will work. You don't lose your ratings, nothing. It all gets transferred to the new account including the iTunes Connect side of things. They can sign it with a different certificate and submit. As long as the app ID is the same as before (which it will be), there is no problem.
It sounds like you have old or inaccurate information, because I know somebody who did a transfer like this, and they kept all the ratings etc.
I have faced this same issue, after contacting apple several times, we concluded that there was not other choice, so we removed the app and re uploaded it a gain on the other account
Not only the rating has been wiped, but also users with old app will not be able to update it when you push a new version to the app store
Its a very tough decision, but we had no other choice
Related
I have a client who wants to deliver the app to 50k specific users, at start. Then he wants to go public with the app after some time. However, this could not be seen by users as beta testing, since it's just an "exclusive" earlier possibility to access the app, not tests.
We know these users since they are a part of other service users group. We will probably create accounts for them and distribute login/one-time-passwords by invitation or give them the possibility to log in with credentials from the other service.
I've been searching for the solution (e.g. https://www.knowband.com/blog/mobile-app/share-ios-app-without-publishing-on-apple-app-store/) but still, I'm not sure which way to go. We're still in the middle of development so we can provide a possible solution and even make changes in the onboarding/login process. But we have to have a decision on this matter.
From possible solutions:
AppStore - we would not give the possibility to register in the app and just people with credentials could log in. But is it even possible with an iOS app and not be rejected by Apple? I know that many apps don't have registration within the app (e.g. banking apps) - how do they do that? They just say that registration is available only on some www/in person at the bank and you receive credentials to your account somewhere else?
Enterprise distribution - this is probably not possible since users won't be employees of my client. These are regular people.
VPP - I've heard about it recently and never tried it but isn't it just a "simpler" Enterprise solution and shouldn't users be also employees of my client? Can VPP apps be changed to regular AppStore apps afterwards?
I think right now option 1 seem the most possible one since the app will be distributed to all the users after some time (we will add registration then). Any ideas on the matter? How can we not be rejected using solution 1 during a review?
Solution 1 is possible, you provide apple with certs in App Store connect when you submit to the store. Specifically the field 'Sign-in required'
I would do that, it's got very little time overhead as compared to the other two.
I am planning to make an app on iOS. The app will be free. This app will work without the internet. The app should not be able to query my database if the subscription is not paid.
However the app will still receive "notification" or RSS links even without subscription. The subscription will be monthly minimum.
I did some research but some people are saying it is not possible and some are saying this has been changed by apple and it is now possible.
Edit
I would like to add that the app will be as much secured as possible. I will have an SQLCypher database inside - so the key will be stored there too (hidden).
Here is the problem that someone told me: The user can use the app only if it paid the monthly/annual subscription, so the key has to be revocable. It seems not compatible with that because the app will have the database deciphered with the key. And if it is deciphered one day, then it will be deciphered next month too.
Why exactly people tell you is not possible?
The only problem I see from what you write is if the free version of your app doesn't do anything. As a general note Apple doesn't allow "demo" versions (even if that concept is not always clear or enforced consistently): a free app must do something not trivial (and of course lots more if the customers pay).
I would like to create an iOS App for a limited set of people.
It should be possible to download the app for free from App Store, but in order to use it
the idea is that you are required to be a member of the organization, which in this case is a local sports organization.
To solve the problem I thought of giving away activation keys to members that can be entered when they create an account, and therefore only members will be using the app.
Will the app be rejected by App Store? If so, is it possible to go around this in some away?
Thanks.
No you will not be rejected by the App Store.
During the review you will only need to give the access to demo account.
Your app will be available to anyone but you are free to give the credential to any person you want.
edit
Fyi I have such apps. The AppStore only block 'discriminating' app based on carrier or location (you can choose the countries anyway), but you are perfectly in the rules if you give access only to your clients...
edit edit
2.22 like I said is against arbitrary criterias, not linked to the login mechanism
for 11.1 and so on, I understand the point, but in my case (and I think yours) there is no problem if
you sell your service before, the app is just complimentary
you dont sell anything within the app
you dont charge for the app itself or anything within the app, you charge only the use of the server/back office/whatsoever
I guess that Apple dont care, they just don't want to bypass the applestore but I dont think that it is your case.
You should try Enterprise distribution for such purpose.
Yes your app may be rejected. Check the App Store Review Guidelines. In 2.2 it says
Apps that arbitrarily restrict which users may use the App, such as by location or carrier, may be rejected
There are different alternatives.
You can opt in for the Apple Developer Enterprise Program, this'll cost you 300$ a year and requires you to be a legal entity.
If you want to test it with a limited number of people (<1000) try looking into Testflight it was bought by Apple and is deeply integrated in the development process.
No, there will not. You need to to give some demo account info as test data to review while submitting to app store in the iTunes Connect portal.
Demo use case(worked for me): Implementation is like, there need some userid/unique pin to the registered account holders to start the application. At the time they input this pin, authenticate the user with our server and give the permission to let in to the app.
Otherwise you need to go for enterprise distribution. Find more about enterprise distribution here.
I am working on a mobile iOS app that is customized to each client, with their own app icon, startup screen, and a few other changes. Each is then submitted to the app store as an individual app.
This is working just fine so far, but what will happen if there's 1000 clients instead of around a dozen? Does Apple have any rules on quantity, submission rate or uniqueness? Any reviewer would clearly see that the apps are basically the same outside of the branding.
Don't do it. You will get kicked out of the appstore.
Read 2.20 of Apple iOS Guidelines which says that developers that spam appstore with similar apps will be kicked out completely!
Notably developers like AppGratis got kicked for this and many others reasons.
Sorry can't disclose, if you have a developers account though you can check the requirements
from https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html
I know this is an old thread but somehow it popped up and the answer selected is not entirely correct. The requester needs the custom B2B program here:
https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/
That is specifically made for the purpose she/he asked about: to distribute customized apps to a business without cluttering the app store. There is no cost but your customers will need to join the Apple Volume Purchase Program for Business though that doesn't cost them anything.
The reason I say the accepted answer is partially correct is because obviously one should not spam up the app store with similar apps intended for one business, which is entirely correct. But that does not answer the underlying why they wanted to do this and how they could achieve the result they need which is to use the B2B program.
I work with a lot of contractors and vendors for mobile app development. They usually ask me to add them to my account and add their device IDs. If they have their own Apple Developer account, I don't think this is necessary. Are they be able to just use their own while developing?
We have an Enterprise account with Apple. We don't do the whole UDID exchange thing for test builds. We build for Enterprise distribution. (We do that because we have hundreds of test devices in geographically disperse locations.) I do give them those signing credentials. Is that enough for a developer to work with?
We deploy the apps ourselves so they don't need credentials for that. They can send us archives to sign.
it really depends on what you want. Truly the developers id should be put under the company account for them to push and also do different security signing measures or app to app talking. However for the rather simple applications this is not necessary maybe around 70% of the time. Something else to think about is who is doing deployment, if you are having a developer or contractor do it for you then absolutely they need your account credentials. As for the device IDs there is no getting around that. You need to add their devices or buy them some because otherwise they are stuck developing on the simulator which does not at all simulate how the application will behave in real life for various reasons.
Hope this helps.
As long as you are responsible for submitting the app to the app store I can't think of a technical reason why developers should be unable to contribute to your app without being invited to join your developer program.
There may however be other concerns or limitations. For example being granted access as a "Member" role is a good way to confirm that you, the client, have accepted Apple's license agreements around pre-release software. Using a certificate issued by your organization to sign builds may also reduce the need to juggle app ids, particularly when testing in-app purchases, and therefore reduce the chance of mistakenly checking in such changes and confusing the team.